Blocking and reporting content 

If you’ve experienced abuse or bullying on social media, or you’ve seen or been sent inappropriate content, then help is available. 

You can block and report content and users to keep yourself, and others, safe. How you do this depends on the social media platform. We’ve put together some links to help you below. Or you can get support from organisations like Women’s Aid.

Should I change my password? 

If you think someone, like your ex-partner, – knows your password, or your account has been hacked, then you should change it.

Remember, your safety is what’s most important. If you think your partner is monitoring what you’re doing online, or they’re accessing your accounts, and you’re worried about their reaction, then changing your password may not be the best approach. You are the expert in what’s safest for you. 

If you’re worried, speak to someone. If you’re under 18 you can talk to a trusted adult or contact Childline. If you’re over 18, you can talk to the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or through their online chat.

If you, or someone you know, is in immediate danger call 999. 

How to block and report on social media platforms 

BeReal  

• You can change who can see your BeReals.  

• You can turn off location sharing. 

• You can delete reactions/comments left on your BeReal. 

• You can block someone on BeReal by tapping on the three-dot menu on their profile. If you are friends with them, blocking will unfriend them. A blocked user isn’t notified that they’ve been blocked.  

• You can report a user or content they have posted.  

Discord  

• You can block users or Direct Messages.  

• You can set up two-factor authentication to verify that it’s you whenever you log in.   

• You can report issues to the Discord Trust & Safety Team.   

• You can follow Discord’s advice on setting up your account for privacy and safety: including explicit media content settings, direct message and friend request settings, and safe account practices.   

Facebook  

• When you block someone on Facebook, they will no longer be able to search for your profile. 

• You can review which devices are logged in to your Facebook account and log out everywhere but the device you’re using to remove other people’s access.  

• You can turn off location tracking.  

• You can use Facebook’s Security Checkup to get alerts when someone tries to log in to your account, learn how to protect your password and enable two-factor authentication.  

• You can use Privacy Checkup to check who can see your information and posts and see your settings for apps you’ve logged in to using Facebook.  

• You can control who can comment on your public posts on Facebook.  

• You can turn on timeline review to see posts that you’re tagged in and manually approve them before they appear on your profile.

Instagram  

• You can set up two-factor authentication to protect your account. This means you’ll receive a notification and be asked to enter a special login code when someone tries to login to your account.  

• You can choose to manually approve Instagram posts you’re tagged in so they only appear on your profile after being approved. You can also choose who can tag or mention you in posts and hide posts you’ve previously been tagged in.   

• In order to make it harder for someone you’ve already blocked from contacting you again through a new Instagram account, when you block someone you now have the option to both block their account and pre-emptively block new accounts that person may create. 

• If you don’t want to block someone or them to be notified about this, you can mute them or restrict their access. 

• You can also report posts, accounts, comments or messages. 

• You can hide comments or message requests you don’t want to see. All UK Instagram accounts now have the ability to filter private message requests containing offensive words, phrases and emojis. These can also be added to your comment filter, meaning no comment containing these terms will appear under your posts.  

• Instagram’s new  Sensitive Content Control tool allows you to decide how much sensitive content shows up in the ‘Explore’ tab.  

• Instagram allows users to “unsend” messages so if you are keeping track of evidence, it could be useful to screenshot messages in case they are later unsent.  

Messenger  

• You can block or report someone in Messenger.  

• You can lock the Messenger app on your device.  

• Messenger allows you to ignore a conversation and automatically move it out of your inbox without having to block the sender.  

• Messenger allows users to “unsend” messages so if you are keeping track of evidence, it could be useful to screenshot messages in case they are later unsent.   

Roblox 

• You can limit or disable who can chat with you on Roblox, who can send you messages, follow you into experiences or invite you to private servers, by using the privacy settings. 

• You can block someone on Roblox, you can do this via their profile or in an experience. 

• You can report inappropriate content on Roblox using the Report Abuse system. 

• You should mention the specific chat, private message, experience or other content that violates the rules – if you report a user from their profile page, Roblox moderators won’t be able to see what they did wrong. 

Snapchat  

• You can change who can contact you, view your stories, send you notifications and see your location in your privacy settings.  

• You can remove a friend or block them.   

• You can turn on Ghost Mode so your location is not visible to anyone else on the Map.   

• You can choose to only share your location with select friends.  

• You can leave a Group Chat.    

• You can set up two-factor authentication to verify it’s really you logging in.    

• You can report abuse, including harassment and other safety concerns.   

Twitch 

• You can report, ignore or block a channel, user or whisper on Twitch. 

• You can also report a streamer during a live stream. 

• You can use chat filters to block content that features discrimination, sexually explicit language, hostility or profanity.  

• You can block terms or phrases through moderation settings. 

• If you’re a moderator, you can also set up a chat delay, block hyperlinks, and limit who can speak in chat.  

• If you’re a channel owner worried about a particular user, you can send chat warnings, time someone out, or ban someone from your channel. 

TikTok  

• You can make your account private, or turn off the setting which allows others to discover your account.  

• You can control who can view your videos, who can message you and who can comment.  

• You can filter and delete comments.   

• You can block an account or remove a follower.  

• You can change who can view your liked videos. 
  You can stop your videos from being downloaded, and choose who can Duet with you or Stitch your content.  

• You can report a video, comment, direct message or account.  

• You can untag yourself from videos and limit who can tag you on TikTok.   

WhatsApp  

• You can add two-step verification and lock your WhatsApp with Touch ID, Face ID or Android fingerprint lock.  

• You can change your settings so only those you choose can see when you are online or last seen.  

• You can block and report unwanted contacts.  

• You can change your group privacy settings so only some contacts can add you to a group chat.   

• WhatsApp allows users to “unsend” messages so if you are keeping track of evidence, it could be useful to screenshot messages in case they are later unsent. 

• Check your linked devices to see if you’re logged in anywhere else where someone might be able to see your messages. Go to WhatsApp Settings > Linked Devices. To remove a linked device, tap the device > Log Out. 

• If you don’t want other WhatsApp users to be able to see when you’ve read something, you can turn off “read receipts” – the little blue check marks next to your message that show something’s been seen. This will also mean that you can’t see when other people have seen messages. Go to > WhatsApp Settings > Privacy and turn off Read receipts. 

• Use their “privacy checkup” tool to find the right level of protection for you

X (or Twitter) 

• You can mute or block accounts. 

• You can report abusive behaviour, either specific Tweets or accounts.  

• You can protect your Tweets so only people who follow you can see them. This will also mean that you receive a request whenever anyone new wants to follow you, which you can approve or deny.  

• You can report any accounts that are impersonating you.  

• You can change your location settings so this information is not attached to your Tweets.  

YouTube 

• You can report abusive or inappropriate content, although you can’t block channels 

• You can report any type of content including videos, comments, links and ads. 

• You can block commenters and specific words in comments 

• If you are concerned your YouTube channel has been hacked, hijacked or compromised you can secure your channel.  

Reporting and removing intimate images and videos 

If an intimate image or video has been shared you should report this to the social platform using the links above. You can also try and get the image removed using the tools below. 

Images of someone under 18  

If the images are of someone under 18 years old, then you can report this to CEOP. You can also confidentially report images using Childline and IWF’s Report Remove tool, which can help get them removed from the internet.  

Find out more about sending nudes and sexting. 

Over 18s 

If someone has shared your images without your consent, the Revenge Porn Helpline is there to support anyone over the age of 18 who has experienced intimate image abuse.  

You can also use the free StopNCII tool to help detect and remove the images from being shared online. 

Find out more about sending nudes and sexting.